Stalled Life
by Anaxn
Summary: This girl was comatose. The chances of her waking up were less than one percent. Her vital signs had not wavered for so long towards normal, that she was the only one Kabuto felt comfortable talking to. Hints at my favorite theory, Kabuto as a Hyuuga.


This girl was comatose. The chances of her waking up were less than one percent, judging by the monitors that had been hooked up to her for over two years. Her vital signs had not wavered for so long towards normal, that she was the only one Kabuto felt comfortable talking to. In this state she was incapable of speech, although she was able to move, and it was possible she could hear him, although the medic doubted it. The perfect person to tell secrets and innermost thoughts to, even though his were scattered and few. Kabuto pulled up his usual chair, the only one in the room, and sat next to the bed which was covered in white hospital sheets. The single candle in the small room cast a reddish orange glow on the girl's face, which was already colored naturally. Her chest rose slowly to the flickering of the flame, in such an even manner that most of her didn't move. Her white blond hair was spread haphazardly around her face, dull from only being washed a few times a year. Orochimaru's right hand man settled his arms on his knees, watching her face for any unusual movement. The doctor in him was going back over the information on her for the last week that he had memorized, trying to remember any abnormal spikes. But her readings had been just as normal as ever, page after page of the same lines and ink.

"I got several new test subject yesterday." He mentioned to the girl, "I'm sorry I wasn't here yesterday because of that, but you know what they say; the living are more important than the dead. But you aren't really dead, are you?" He continued normally, as though he was talking to a real person. Kabuto could barely remember the color of her eyes. Two years of not seeing something would do that to a man but although he could not remember her current eyes, he knew them well from her first day here. It had been almost three and a half years since she arrived at Orochimaru's lair, shackled and bound like the rest of them. Her eyes had been so riddled with fear that Kabuto originally feared for her stability. Performing on the mentally insane was harder than on a normal person. Her eyes reminded him of the prisoners he got yesterday.

"I've been looking for different drugs that might wake you up, but so far nothing has worked. Even those dangerous drugs Orochimaru-sama suggested didn't even phase you." This girl was Orochimaru's test subject for all drugs or poisons that might bring some one out of a coma. She was valuable to him in that way, although it was more often Kabuto who searched for saving drugs such as those. The medic's eyes washed sadly over her form, wanting to say more, but finding nothing. It wasn't a matter of secrecy, for Kabuto had fixed that problem. Anyone who tried to use a justu in this room would find themselves the detonator of a small but nasty organic explosion, thanks to a complex tag on the room's door. But there was nothing else to say. All his secrets belonged with this girl, regardless of whether she awoke or not. She knew them all already. This girl knew of his double agent status, of his true heritage, and if she could see, would have known his true eye color, the one so well hidden by powerful genjustu.

"Not much to say, Mikato? Never is." The medic sighed sadly, scooting out his chair and standing up. He felt the bond between them, his secrets tightening around his throat, and the cautious ninja in him wanted to sever this, rip it to shreds along with the veins of her neck. But the practical doctor in him knew that her waking up was so unlikely, he would never need to kill her. She would simply sleep in this room for the rest of her life, needle in her vein feeding her, sound ninja bathing her every once in a while, but she would never wake up. And Kabuto also knew that he needed her in a way. The strain of his control would have broken a long time ago if he weren't allowed to tell anyone his secret. And who better to talk to than someone who can't talk back, and won't ever tell? The silver haired man sighed, turning his back on the bed and leaving the monitor marked Mikato Saraumi to beep once again in its constant tone.

* * *

Kabuto Yakushi gathered his scalpels and syringes with an exhausted sigh, putting them away in their respective silver drawers. Although the doctor was tired from inoculating and inspecting his new patients, prisoners really, the night was still young, although impossible to tell from inside the stone burrow. It was maybe 6 or 7 o'clock, plenty of time to make a visit to the comatose girl before he returned to his room to fill out the paperwork on his new patients. He always blocked out a few minutes of his day to spend next to her bed, sharing with her the general sound news. Occasionally he spent more time with her, often at night, and that was when he broke down and confessed everything to her; how much he hated some of the experiments Orochimaru gave to him, how he wished to go back home, things he would never say to anyone else. The silver haired man resealed his laboratory with a spell tag, then began his regular route down the hall. The candles lining the corridor played with the shadows on his face, tossing them back and forth across his face and hair, lighting up the lenses to block his eyes. Finally reaching the medical ward, the nin turned to face a heavy stone door, just like the others. Roughly carved in the rock were the words Mikato Saraumi. Normally the name of the patient wasn't placed on the door, but she had been here so long, Kabuto felt it fit to place her name on the door.

Forming the symbol Kai, the seal on the door burst into flames and cinders and groaningly opened for its only visitor. He shoved it open even more, walking over to the scone near the girl's bed in the dark and lighting it. It was only then that he noticed the slightly frenzied beeping of the machines. Now that light could illuminate the room, he could see Mikato curled up in a fetal position under the covers, the needle in her vein tugging at her skin. Her breathing was labored and heavy, flame reflections dancing on the sweat beading her face. He jolted to her side, grabbing her wrist roughly in complete ignorance of the needle. Her pulse was about a human's normal rate, but that was still 20 beats above the normal for a comatose girl. Although the machines were spitting out numbers at him, the frantic medic was already up and running from the room. The medicine room was near the end of the medical ward's long hall, Kabuto thought desperately. Already his mind was searching its shelves for something that would stop her body from speeding everything up. Spider's venom, dart frog extract, no that's a neurotoxin, wait… Yes, that would do. He put on an extra burst of speed, the fires lining the hall only making his eyes seem more frantic. He burst into the medical room, knocking the door against the wall with such force that the shelves shook with the tinkling of glass bottles. The delicate sound put the man's nerves on edge and he carefully rushed to the shelf on his left. Glancing left and right, he tried to find the bottle he was so desperately looking for, meanwhile groping for the syringe somewhere on the table next to him. There, his hand darted up and grabbed the bottle labeled "cobra venom" as his other hand finally found the shot. Quickly shoving the needle through the cap, Kabuto drew about 5 ccs of the clear liquid. Hastening to place the cap on the syringe, the medic managed to bloody his finger but he ignored it, hurrying to Mikato's room.

His feet pounded unforgiving against the stone floor, his breath also starting to become heavy like the girl's. This wasn't right. He hadn't worked so long towards her health for her to just die for no reason! Sure he was not going to wake her here, that would make his secret more difficult to keep, but when he left this torture hole, he was going to take her with him. Damnit, she was perfectly fine until that experiment! Did Orochimaru and his scientist lackeys know that a coma would result from their serum? But it was Kabuto's choice to give it to Mikato, in the end. Ever his fault, always his fault, just like in Kikyo Pass. Skidding to her door, he bolted through without slowing down much. Kneeling hurriedly at her bedside, the silver haired medic grabbed her wrist again. Using the intravenous needle as a landmark and uncapping the syringe, he shoved the syringe into her vein. Kabuto watched as the cobra venom rushed from the needle into her blood, their heavy breathing coming out at matching intervals. The Yakushi wiped the faint sweat from his brow, standing and grabbing his chair. Even venom didn't work at the speed of light, but the cobra's poison should be working in a few minutes. He watched the lines on the machine beep and waver slightly as the man held his breath. The moment her heart rate went down, he breathed a sigh of relief. But he drew it right back in as Mikato shuddered and suddenly opened her eyes. She turned her head to the side to stare at him like a dear in a set of bright lights.

"Hyuuga-san….What happened?" Kabuto didn't have time to answer before her eyes waver shakily and her blond head hit the pillow with a whoosh of air. The beep of the machines was the only noise for a while before the medic collapsed in his seat. Shuddering, he looked at the syringe in his hand in wonder. Mikato had just woken up. He stared at the glowing green lines on her machine to make sure he had heard right, but her functions had gone back to normal. The stunned man put his head in one hand, eyes wide in disbelief. Was that all it took all these years? Just a few ccs of cobra venom, and she was awake and talking? Letting out a faint laugh, he put the syringe on the table next to her bed and hid his face behind a silver curtain, rain threatening to cover the panes of his eyes.

From that day on, a small bottle of cobra venom was always positioned next to Mikato's bed. It was never touched, and eventually gained dust, but it gave Kabuto enough comfort to continue his bloody experiments, no matter how much they disturbed him.


End file.
